Chinese ambassador urges ‘concrete actions’ to improve ties with US

By Faruk Zorlu

ANKARA (AA) – In a meeting with a Pentagon official, China’s ambassador to the US has urged Washington to take “concrete actions” to improve bilateral relations.

Ambassador Xie Feng, who reiterated China’s position on the relations between the two countries and militaries, called on the US to “remove obstacles and manage differences with concrete actions,” read a statement from the Chinese Embassy in Washington on Wednesday.

Xie also underscored the importance of “a sound and stable” bilateral ties, highlighting the “principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation outlined by Chinese President Xi Jinping.”

These principles “represent the fundamental and right way for China and the United States to get along in the new era,” said the Chinese diplomat in the meeting with Ely Ratner, the US assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs.

He called for a prudent approach in handling sensitive issues such as the Taiwan question, “in accordance with the principles enshrined in the three China-US joint communique.”

Xie and Ratner emphasized the need for mutual interest of both sides and working together “in the same direction to gradually bring the state-to-state and mil-to-mil relations back to the right track,” said the statement.

The US Department of Defense has released no official statement regarding the discussions held during the meeting, which came in a time when Beijing has refused to resume high-level military communication with the Pentagon.

During his trip to Beijing last month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington had urged China to restore military-to-military communications.

“It is absolutely vital that we have these kinds of communications, military-to-military. That imperative was only underscored by recent incidents that we saw in the air and on the sea,” Blinken told a news conference in Beijing after two days of high-level diplomatic engagement with the Chinese side.

He was referring to recent encounters between Chinese and US air and naval forces in and over the South China Sea.

Beijing in May denied a request by the Pentagon for a meeting between the countries’ defense chiefs in Singapore.

Chinese Gen. Li Shangfu and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin attended the 20th Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore but the duo did not hold a bilateral meeting as China rejected the request.